Ifs Papers

FORESTRY – IFS MATERIAL – INDIAN FOREST SERVICE

Wildlife Management & Conservation

Wildlife management is the process of keeping some wildlife species at desirable levels as determined by the wildlife managers and includes game keeping, wildlife conservation and pest control. Wildlife management has become an integrated science using disciplines such as mathematics, chemistry, biology, ecology, climatology and geography to gain the best results. Wildlife conservation takes into consideration ecological principles and environmental conditions such as carrying capacity, disturbance and succession with the aim of balancing the needs of wildlife with the needs of people. Most wildlife conservation is concerned with the preservation and improvement of habitats though increasingly reinstatement is being used. Techniques can include reforestation, pest control, nitrification and denitrification, irrigation, coppicing and hedge laying. Game keeping is the management or control of wildlife for the wellbeing of game birds may include killing other animals which share the same niche or predators to maintain a high population of the more profitable species, such as pheasants introduced into woodland. Aldo Leopold, one of the pioneers of wildlife management as a science, defined it as "...the art of making land produce sustained annual crops of wild game for recreational use," in his 1933 book titled: Game Management.[Full citation needed] Pest control is the control of real or perceived pests and can be for the benefit of wildlife, farmers, game keepers or safety reasons. In the United States, wildlife management practices are often implemented by a governmental agency to uphold a law, such as the Endangered Species Act of 1973. Many wildlife managers are employed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and by state governments. In the United Kingdom, wildlife management undertaken by several organizations including government bodies such as the Forestry Commission,...